Hello from OZ. My husband and I are new members. We are currently living aboard our yacht in Queensland. Been on board now for 10 years. Planning a really big trip in 2010 to Canada via south pacific, we hope to leave in June. We have 2 siamese cats on board as well. Cheers, look forward to meeting new fellow sailors.

We look forward to hearing about your planning and your trip as you make your way to Canada via the South Pacific! We also have a cat aboard (a Maine Coon Cat) and really enjoy hearing about other cruiser's pets.

We look forward to hearing about your planning and your trip as you make your way to Canada via the South Pacific! We also have a cat aboard (a Maine Coon Cat) and really enjoy hearing about other cruiser's pets.

At the moment we have our two siamese on board, Poppy a blue point and Mia a seal point. Poppy gave birth to her first litter 4 weeks ago. Making sure we don't step on our four little fluff balls can be a bit tricky at times. And it's amazing the little spaces they manage to hind in. Their father was a seal point Himalayan so they are really cute and very fluffy. I am glad we are living in a marina at the moment and not sailing. We are slowly getting boat ready for trip and looking for some work to fund our trip. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

Speaking of small spaces--our kitty who is NOT small managed to slide down into the bilge under the engine tray when he first arrived aboard the boat. We were still in the boatyard at the time so he didn't get all wet or anything but he was stuck down there. Because I worried that he'd get into some corner of the boat and I wouldn't be able to find him, I had trained him to come to me for treats when I shake a can of the treats so I was wandering around the boat shaking the can when I heard him trying to get out from that spot. Oh, I was glad that I'd trained him so well!

However, it was just too steep for him to climb up out of there. Only his head was where I could grab something and I thought I'd break his neck if I tried to pull on it, so David (hubby) went to another compartment with a broom and poked the cat's hind end with the broom to get him to try and climb out of the bilge. When the cat started scrambling, I reached down and grabbed his front paws and pulled him up and out. From that day forward, the cat believes there is a "monster" in the bilge. When we open a panel to the bilge to clean or store something down there, he growls and yowls at us and the bilge. It doesn't help that the primary bilge pump (a big Rule 3700) is located in that low spot he was stuck in. It goes off about once a day now and makes a big sucking noise before it shuts off. He's sure that's the "bilge monster" too.

Elsewhere on CL, I saw that you're planning on getting to Canada this summer via Hawaii. The Hawaii rabies quarantine rules have changed a bit and you might want to read up on the matter. Here is a link to the state's website http://hawaii.gov/hdoa/ai/aqs/info with the latest info on this issue. If you will be there a few days to two weeks, it may matter little to you, but if you plan to spend more time in Hawaii, you may wish to make sure that your animals can meet the new requirements for 5-day-or-less quarantine period vs the 120 day quarantine.